White Stork

Ciconia ciconia

Order

Family

BTO 2

BTO 5

Euring 5

ILLUSTRATION

PHOTOS

CONSERVATION STATUS

UK Conservation Status

European Conservation Status

Conservation Description

In the UK, Isle of Man, and Ireland, the White Stork is a rare visitor with around 20 records per year on average. The conservation status for this species is "not assessed' in the UK because it occurs rare migrant, and is not globally threatened.

SUMMARY

Overview

White Stork: Large bird with large, red bill. Mostly white and pale grey with a short black line through the eye and black flight feathers. The legs and feet are red-pink. It slowly flaps and soars on strong, long, broad wings.

Range and Habitat

White Stork: Rare visitor to the UK, where an average of twenty may be spotted during spring or autumn migration. Birds breed in parts of Europe north to Finland, northwestern Africa, and southwest Asia then migrate to Sub-Saharan Africa. This species is most likely to be seen on grassland, or farmland near towns or villages.

SONGS AND CALLS

Voice Text

Generally silent, except for loud bill clapping displays on the nest.

INTERESTING FACTS

Because it is viewed as bird of good luck, the White Stork is not persecuted, and often nests close to human habitation. The only nesting attempt in Britain was on St Giles Cathedral in the heart of Edinburgh's Old Town in 1416.

Arriving in Europe in large numbers in spring, they are widely regarded in Europe as a fertility symbol. Poles, Lithuanians and Ukrainians believe that storks bring harmony to a family on whose property they nest.

Some years ago the population of this "iconic emblem of Alsace" had fallen to fewer than nine pairs in the Rhine River Valley, an area identified with the White Stork for centuries. Conservation efforts have increased the population to 270 pairs.

A group of storks has many collective nouns, including a "clatter", "filth", "muster", "phalanx", and "swoop" of storks.

RELATED BIRDS

RANGE MAP

FAMILY DESCRIPTION

Five families are included in the CICONIIFORMES (pronounced sih-KON-ee-ih-FOR-meez), an order that includes long-legged birds such as ibises and spoonbills, the herons and egrets, and the storks.

FAMILY TAXONOMY

The Ciconiidae (pronounced sik-uh-NYE-uh-dee), or stork family, is composed of nineteen species in six genera (IOC World Bird List, version 2.3).

EUROPE

In Europe, four species of storks in three genera have occurred. These are the White, Black, Yellow-billed, and Marabou Storks.

KNOWN FOR

Stork species such as the Marabou Stork are known for their massive bills and large size; indeed they are among the largest of flying birds. The White Stork is also known for building its large nest on rooftops.

PHYSICAL

Storks are large birds with long legs, short tails and long, thick necks that are featherless in most species. Storks have long, large, often slightly downcurved bills, and long, broad wings ideal for soaring and flying great distances.

COLORATION

The two resident European stork species are mostly white with black in the wings (the White Stork) or mostly black with a white belly (the Black Stork). Both species have red in the bill, legs, and feet. Most other storks also have black and white plumage although some have grey and brown coloration as well as yellow on the bill, neck, or head.

GEOGRAPHIC HABITAT

Storks in Europe occur in open habitats and farmlands near floodplains, marshes, and swamps (the White Stork), and in coniferous forests near wetlands (the Black Stork). The other two species are rare vagrants from Africa that prefer savannahs.

MIGRATION

The two resident species are long distance migrants to sub-Saharan Africa.

HABITS

Members of the Ciconiidae form pairs during the breeding season, but are often seen in large flocks during migration and on their wintering grounds. Storks forage by walking and wading though wetlands that hold frogs, fish, and other creatures that they snap out of the vegetation with their large bills.

CONSERVATION

None of the European stork species are endangered. In Asia, though, where most stork species are in trouble, the plight of waterbirds is unfortunately a different story.

INTERESTING FACTS

The White Stork of Europe has become adapted to living with people in Poland and some other countries and even nests on platforms on top of houses. This behaviour is what gave rise to the children’s story of babies coming from storks. Building their nests on or near houses also made people very familiar with White Storks and fostered various fables and myths associated with the large birds. These include such ideas as storks being harbingers of spring to being symbols of parental care and devotion.

The four letter common name alpha code is is derived from the first two letters of the common first name and the first two letters
of common last name. The six letter species name alpha code is derived from the first three letters of the scientific name (genus)
and the first three letters of the scientific name (species). See (1) below for the rules used to create the codes..

Four-letter (for English common names) and six-letter (for scientific names) species alpha codes were developed by Pyle and DeSante
(2003, North American Bird-Bander 28:64-79) to reflect A.O.U. taxonomy and nomenclature (A.O.U. 1998) as modified by Supplements 42
(Auk 117:847-858, 2000) and 43 (Auk 119:897-906, 2002). The list has been updated by Pyle and DeSante to reflect changes reported
by the A.O.U from 2003 through 2006.

The Integrated Taxonomic Information System (ITIS) was established in the mid-1990 s as a cooperative project among several federal agencies to improve and
expand upon taxonomic data (known as the NODC Taxonomic Code) maintained by the National Oceanographic Data Center (NODC), National Oceanic and Atmospheric
Administration (NOAA).

To find the ITIS page for a bird species go to the ITIS web site advanced search and report page at http://www.itis.gov/advanced_search.html.
You can enter the TSN or the common name of the bird. It will return the ITIS page for that bird. Another way to obtain the ITIS page is to use
the Google search engine. Enter the string ITIS followed by the taxonomic ID, for example "ITIS 178041" will return the page for the Allen's Hummingbird.